Depression following childbirth

October 24th, 2006

The recent court case involving Danielle Wails denying the murder of her baby son, but pleading guilty to infanticide, has once again put postnatal depression and other mental health illnesses into the spot light. According to an article on the BBC there are a number of ways women’s mental health can be affected by childbirth.

A lot of new mums suffer the “baby blues”, but this usually passes after a few days. One in ten women will suffer from postnatal depression and one in every 1000 new mothers will suffer from the rare mental health illness puerperal psychosis (also known as postpartum psychosis).

Antipsychotic drugs or antidepressants are used to help the conditions – some women recover within a few weeks, but it can take a long time for others to recover completely.